


the stars are as bright as ever

by eugyne (AreteNike)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Reality, Falling In Love, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Meet-Cute, alluras role in this fic bears an unfortunate resemblance to janet from the good place, return of dimension hopping keith!! just uh. differently.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-10-29 02:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20789108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AreteNike/pseuds/eugyne
Summary: Keith stands in the desert.It looks just like the one he grew up in--in theory, it is. And he recognizes the rock formations enough to know that if he heads over the dunes behind and to the right of him, there will be a little abandoned shack, just like the one he used to call home.If he goes straight, eventually, he'll find the Garrison, or at least a road leading to it. From there, town is left.That's where he heads, for now. He remembers who's willing to pay under the table, and he doesn't belong here, but that doesn't mean he won't be staying.





	the stars are as bright as ever

**Author's Note:**

> i left the alternate realities zine so heres my piece :v

Keith stands in the desert.

It looks just like the one he grew up in—in theory, it is. And he recognizes the rock formations enough to know that if he heads over the dunes behind and to the right of him, there will be a little abandoned shack, just like the one he used to call home.

If he goes straight, eventually, he’ll find the Garrison, or at least a road leading to it. From there, town is left.

That’s where he heads, for now. He remembers who’s willing to pay under the table, and he doesn’t belong here, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be staying.

* * *

_ He’s gone, she says. He’s gone, and not even I can bring him back. _

* * *

Surveillance is going well, in that the Garrison doesn’t seem to have noticed Keith is there. Why would they? They’ve always been focused on what’s inside—and above—their gates, not what’s around them, and besides, Keith doesn’t exist. 

It’s not going well, though, in that he has yet to spot his target.

He’s checked the newspapers in town, and it’s the right time, more or less—a little earlier than he’d have chosen, but close enough. Keith may not exist but that’s no reason for Shiro not to, too, and this would be pointless if he didn’t. Keith’s best guess at the moment is exams—or else Shiro’s out on one of the missions that’ll make him famous.

All Keith has is a pair of binoculars and sand in every fold of his clothes. That, and the same burning in his chest—the one that would be sparked in a year or two, maybe, if this were a reality in which he exists.

He lowers the binoculars; it’s long since dark and the chill is starting to set in. If Shiro were planning to sneak out tonight, he’d have done it already.

It’s already been a month.

He goes home to his shack and lies down on his salvaged sofa (better than the one he had last time, but not by much) and wonders just what he expected would happen, coming here like this.

* * *

It’s been a month and a half. It’s a Monday, which means Keith has the day off to lie in the dirt and spy on the Garrison all day. He isn’t, yet, but he’s on his way to when the telltale rumble of an engine echoes through the canyon.

He goes to the cliff edge, because it could be, and it is—finally. He confirms it through his binoculars—Shiro, no scar, no white hair. He looks so _ young _and it nearly knocks the wind out of him to see it, but again, what did he expect? To find a Shiro who’d been through everything Keith’s had? 

No, he thinks, before he can beat himself up about it. He did know. He just didn’t think it would hurt like this.

He lowers his binoculars and sits on the top of the cliff, watching Shiro race back and forth through the canyon. He thinks Shiro might look up his way, once or twice—whether he sees Keith against the bright sunlight is anyone’s guess. Eventually, he leaves, back towards the Garrison.

Keith follows helplessly, but by the time he gets close, Shiro is long since out of sight.

* * *

Keith doesn’t know what changed, but he spots Shiro fairly regularly after that. Always on his hoverbike, always at a distance, but it’s always him and he’s always alone. Keith wonders if he’s not the only one never born in this reality, but then, Adam wasn’t the sort to race through the canyons with them. He wonders what difference it would make, anyway.

* * *

Keith is on his way to work and, for once, not looking for Shiro at all, so of course that’s when Shiro finds him. 

Actually, he nearly runs him over with his bike.

Keith dives out of the way with a curse, and there’s a grating sound as Shiro turns and brakes so hard that one wing drags against the ground. Keith sits up, and Shiro comes stumbling out of the cloud of dust, pushing up his goggles.

“Oh, you’re the desert hermit guy,” is the first thing he says, stopping short.

“Uh,” says Keith.

“I mean!” Shiro hurries the rest of the way and reaches to help him up. “I’m sorry! I didn’t hit you, did I?”

“No,” Keith says. He takes Shiro’s hand—real, they both are, and his stim bracelet peeks out from his sleeve—and can barely hear his own voice over the sound of his pulse as he stands. “...Desert hermit guy?”

“I don’t mean anything by it.” Shiro gives an embarrassed laugh, rubbing his neck. “I’ve just seen you around but I didn’t know what to call you... If you’ve got a better idea, I’m all ears.”

Keith grins crookedly; he can’t help it. He’s missed him. “My name is Keith.”

“Keith. That’s definitely an improvement.” Shiro shakes his hand, because Keith is still holding it. Oops. “I’m Shiro.”

“Hi, Shiro.” This is surreal and familiar all at once. “Nice to meet you. I gotta go or I’ll be late for work.”

“Oh!” Shiro lets go. “Let me give you a ride? As an apology for almost running you over.” He gestures to his idling bike.

This was part of the plan, insofar as Keith had one—get close, become friends. For some reason, though, he feels like he shouldn’t—like it would be wrong, somehow.

“You don’t have to...” he starts.

“I insist,” Shiro says. He bites his lip. “If not that, let me make it up to you somehow. Dinner?”

Of all the scenarios Keith had imagined, this was never one of them.

“You’d take a strange desert hermit to dinner?” he asks, or maybe watches himself ask while his mind’s still reeling.

Shiro’s tentative smile grows a little wider. “Why not? You don’t look like a murderer or anything—and if you are, I bet I can take you.” 

He flexes—_he flexes. _ Keith eyes him up and down, totally against his will. His brain isn’t attached to his body anymore; it’s floating somewhere nearby, screaming.

“I bet you could,” he says over the screaming. Shiro’s smile breaks into a full grin. “Dinner sounds nice.”

“Great! Friday? We can meet in town. Maybe 8?”

“Sure. Rick’s?”

“Perfect.” Shiro is absolutely beaming. “See you then.”

Keith starts walking backwards, because if he doesn’t tear himself away he can’t imagine what he’ll say next. “Yeah, see you.”

Shiro waves cheerfully before he hops back on his bike. Keith forces himself to turn away.

Did that happen? Did that really happen?

This wasn’t part of the plan.

* * *

Dinner with Shiro is surreal.

It’s not that he isn’t easy to talk to—he is, always has been. It’s that the more time Keith spends with him, the more he feels like an imposter. It sticks in his chest and lodges there like a broken blade, because even when Shiro really was an imposter, he felt real—and this Shiro _ is _ real, just younger. Just not the Shiro he lost.

Worse, it _ helps, _ because if he felt real Keith would probably slip up and say something that would give it all away, or at least ruin what he’s begun.

Worst, Keith’s still enjoying himself.

“If you like flying so much,” Shiro asks, after dinner, while he pokes at a slice of pie and Keith sips a cup of coffee, “why aren’t you at the Garrison, too?”

And what can he even say to a question like that?

“I was,” Keith says. “I dropped out. I had...” He pauses. “Problems with authority.” It’s not really a lie.

Shiro laughs, and wedges the blade deeper.

“We should do this again sometime,” he says, later, when they’ve finally left their sticky booth and stepped out into the cool night air. “If you want to.”

“I want to,” Keith says, and is afraid of meaning it. He leaves Shiro his number.

* * *

Keith goes home and checks his phone, and finds a text from an unknown number—it’s Shiro, of course, and the message is half text saying so and half star emojis.

Keith sinks onto his sofa and has a crisis.

He’d been so focused on _ saving Shiro _ that he hadn’t considered that this wasn’t, in any way, saving him—if he brought this Shiro home with him, it would be kidnapping. 

As many times as it takes, he’d said once—so, what? Is he going to keep looking? He can go to as many realities as he likes but it will never be the same Shiro. _ His _ Shiro is gone, beyond rescue, beyond even Allura’s reach.

“I would have warned you.” Allura’s voice is soft as she sits next to him. “But I thought you needed to realize for yourself.”

Keith rubs his face and looks over at her. She’s got the same sort of almost-translucent, almost-glowing quality as last he saw her—like she’s not really here, just projecting herself like a hologram into whatever reality she chooses. Which, he thinks, is probably exactly what she’s doing. He wonders how that’s going for her and Lance.

“That’s why you agreed to send me here,” he says finally. She nods. She looks anything but smug about it.

“What do you want to do?” she asks.

“I don’t know,” he says, and thinks she already knows that. “What should I do?”

She smiles sadly. “That, too, is for you to realize.”

He must make a face, because her mouth twists wryly and she lays a hand on his shoulder. He buries his face in his hands and groans; when he looks up again, she’s gone.

* * *

Shiro texts a lot. This was something Keith already knew, in theory; Adam used to tease about it. Keith, at the time, had been too resistant to texting—to communication in general, really—to be on the receiving end, but he knew.

Every good morning and goodnight text is a hammer blow to the broken blade in his chest. They make him bury his smile in the cushions of his sofa, too.

He wishes he could have had this for real, somehow—wonders if he’s falling in love or if he has been all along. If it would hurt like this if the circumstances were different—probably not. 

He still texts back, though. Religiously. They aren’t in constant contact, they have lives, but Keith finds himself checking his phone more often than he ever did before. It’s like a craving, an addiction—what does Shiro have to say now? What is he thinking, what is he doing? Why does Keith care so much?

He still doesn’t know what he should do.

Shiro manages to find his shack, not quite a month into whatever their relationship is—he spots Keith sitting out on his porch and half-trips off his bike because he’s waving vigorously.

“I found you!” he shouts, and when Keith comes down to meet him Shiro wraps him up in his arms and laughs.

“What’s so funny?” Keith asks.

“You really are a hermit,” Shiro says, nodding to the shack, and Keith can’t really deny that so he just laughs, too.

Shiro only remembers that he showed up technically uninvited an hour later, after lunch. Keith doesn’t mind.

They meet regularly, sometimes in town but not always. Occasionally they climb onto the shack’s roof, still warm from the day’s sun, and stargaze until curfew is past and Shiro has to go sneak back into the Garrison. They point out the places they’d like to go, or pretend to. 

Things are simpler, down here, stuck on a single planet, except when they aren’t, and Keith is bursting with everything he isn’t saying.

“Do me a favor,” Keith says one night, when they’ve spotted a planet and decided it must be Saturn.

“Anything,” says Shiro, and isn’t it awful that he means it.

“Don’t go further out there than Neptune,” said Keith. “Stay in the solar system.”

“Why?”

Keith hasn’t gone to check if the Blue Lion is here, if Voltron might exist. Because if Voltron exists, so does everything else, probably, in a way just slightly different than he knows it, and that scares him.

“It’s too far,” he says finally. “You won’t come back.”

Shiro rolls over to face him, so close that if Keith turned too they’d be nose-to-nose. He doesn’t. 

“I’ll always come back,” Shiro says.

“You will,” Keith says distantly. “But you won’t be the same.”

He already isn’t, though.

“Is something wrong?”

“No.” Keith heaves a sigh that probably makes it obvious he’s lying. “Just thinking.”

“Keith,” Shiro says, “if there’s a problem, you can tell me.”

Maybe that’s the answer, Keith thinks. To just tell him everything. But where would they be then?

“There’s no problem,” he says. He does finally roll over though. “I just... really like you.”

It’s an excuse, and not really even a good one; it’s only the tiniest fraction of the truth. It makes Shiro happy, though. His grin is bare inches away.

“I really like you, too,” he says. He moves closer.

When Shiro kisses him, Keith realizes two things: one, that he was unknowingly desperate for this, and two, that it feels more wrong than anything they’ve done together yet.

The latter doesn’t stop him from kissing Shiro back.

When he wakes the next morning, though, he wakes knowing, deep in his gut, that they have to break up. That he has to come clean, and then call Allura and go home, because he left his friends behind and they lost Shiro, too. They shouldn't have to lose him, as well.

He’s gotten himself a bike by now; it’s not a particularly good one, but it works, and he takes it out into the desert. No more hiding behind uncertainty; if the Blue Lion isn’t here, Shiro will be fine, but if it is, then Keith needs to warn him. He doesn’t have any equipment to sense it but he remembers enough to find the cave—and the markings are there, carved into the walls. That’s proof enough; that, and the feeling it’s sending out, like it’s calling to him.

He checks his phone before he gets back on his bike; there’s a text from Shiro. “It’s funny what you told me last night,” it says, “because they just announced a mission to one of Pluto’s moons.”

This is really it, then. Now or never.

“Come by when you can,” Keith texts back. “There’s something I have to show you.”

* * *

Shiro shows up late in the afternoon with a smile on his face and a bounce in his step. He greets Keith with a kiss, and Keith’s stomach churns at having to ruin his happiness.

“What did you have to show me?” Shiro asks, still with his arms around Keith’s shoulders. Keith tries to smile back.

“It’s a bit far,” he says. “Your bike, or mine?”

They take Shiro’s, which means Keith has to sit snug behind him and give directions over his shoulder. Shiro’s mood has shifted somewhat by the time they hop off, from flirty to confused, but he’s still eager and shooting Keith little grins whenever they meet eyes as Keith leads him into the cave.

The sun is low enough in the wrong direction that little light is getting into the cave, so it’s dark where the carvings are; Keith turns on his flashlight and finds Shiro now looking around thoughtfully. The markings are dusty but they stand out all the same.

“Spooky,” Shiro says. “It feels like there’s some kind of energy here. I guess that’s why there are carvings, huh?”

“Yeah,” Keith says. Deep breath. “The source is below us, somewhere.”

Shiro glances at him, eyes full of wonder. “You’ve seen it?”

“No. Yes. Well, kind of.”

Shiro raises an eyebrow.

“It’s complicated.” Keith turns away, brushes a hand over a carving of the Lion’s face. “What if I told you... I’m from an alternate reality?”

“I’m not sure I could believe that,” Shiro admits.

“No, I guess it’d be hard to.” Keith sighs. There’s not really any way he can prove it, but he can still give Shiro some warning. “The source of the energy is an alien spaceship.”

Shiro gives a nervous laugh. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. It looks like this.” Keith taps the carving.

“Why would an alien ship look like a lion?”

“I don’t know. How could the people who carved these know what a lion looks like? Have you ever seen a lion in Arizona?”

“No,” Shiro says doubtfully.

“There are more of them.” Keith turns to face Shiro again. “Four more. They combine to form a superweapon called Voltron. And there’s an empire out there desperate to get their hands on it.”

This is how he can make all this pain worth it, he decides. If he can save Shiro, even if he can’t keep him.

Shiro sighs, turning away. “Keith...”

“That’s why I’m here,” Keith says firmly. “And that’s why I don’t want you to go to Kerberos.”

Shiro freezes. “How did you know it was Kerberos?”

There—that’s something. “Because this has happened before, Shiro. If this Lion is here, it’s because it needed to be hidden. If it’s hidden, then they’re looking for it. And if they’re looking, and you go out there, they _ will _find you.”

Shiro faces him. “And you’re here to stop me so this empire doesn’t get their superweapon.”

“I’m here to stop you because, if they find you,” Keith says, “you’ll be tortured, and cloned, and hunted, and then you’ll die, and I _ can’t lose you again_.”

Keith breathes hard. Shiro stares.

“Again,” he echoes. Shit.

“...Yeah,” Keith says, turning away. “Sorry.”

Shiro is silent for a long time. Keith stares dully at the Lion carving and waits.

“I have to go,” Shiro says finally. He doesn’t wait for Keith to respond.

* * *

It’s a long walk back to his shack; the sun is well below the horizon when he arrives and he’s shivering but he climbs up on the roof anyway. The stars are as bright as ever.

“Allura,” he says.

“Yes?” She’s sitting next to him.

“I’m ready to go home.”

She smiles.

* * *

Hunk starts bawling when he sees Keith, and wraps him up in a bear hug heedless of anyone else in the Garrison hallway. Even Lance gets teary-eyed when he pokes his head out of a nearby room and sees what’s happening. 

Pidge, on the other hand, punches him.

“Asshole,” she says while he rubs his arm.

“I know,” he says. “Sorry.” _ Then _she hugs him.

It isn’t strange at all to adjust to being back, even though it’s been months. Keith has always been good at adjusting, and anyway, Earth is familiar, even with everything that’s changed since the invasion.

He misses Shiro, desperately, but he would anyway. He does ask Allura how he’s doing.

“He’s looking for you,” she says.

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“You hurt him. It will take time.”

Keith groans.

“He needs closure, Keith,” she says. “You should talk to him.”

“If I go back, I’ll be tempted to stay,” Keith says, and Allura nods, and he thinks that’s the end of that.

Except he’s walking through the market the next day, and then Shiro is there, panting and red-eyed, and Keith reacts on instinct, hauling him out of the path and back behind the stalls where no one will recognize him.

“What are you _ doing _here?” he hisses.

“Keith,” Shiro gasps, clinging hard to his shoulders, “why couldn’t you just tell me you were leaving?”

Oh. “I’m sorry,” Keith says. “I couldn’t stay.”

“You had to—say all that stuff about aliens, instead of just _ telling me_—”

_ Oh. _ “Shiro,” Keith interrupts. “Look at where you are right now.”

Shiro glances around—and then straightens and looks again, slower. Most of the market is hidden where they are, but they can see the shoppers through the gaps and many aren’t human. And in the middle of the market is the memorial statue they put up, the one that’s clearly Shiro, even from here.

“...It was true,” Shiro whispers.

“Yeah.” Keith gently disentangles himself. “How did you get here?”

“I don’t know,” Shiro says distantly, still looking at the statue. “I asked.”

Keith sighs. “Allura!”

“You said you wouldn’t go,” she says defensively.

“So you brought him here?”

“I want my friends to be happy,” she says. “So there.” And then she’s gone again. Shiro turns to Keith slowly.

“Keith,” he says, “what happened?”

So Keith tells him everything. Everything, from how they met to when Shiro died, and past, to when they met again. Shiro nods along silently.

“So it was worth it,” he says at the end. “Going to Kerberos. It meant we saved the universe.”

“Someone else could have saved it,” Keith says weakly. Shiro smiles.

“I think I’d rather be sure,” he says. “But thank you for the warning. I’ll be careful.”

“It won’t happen the same way,” Keith says. “I won’t be there.”

“We’ll make do.” Shiro looks around. “What was her name? Allura?”

“Yes?” She appears.

“Thank you, but I’m ready to go home.”

She nods sadly. 

“Bye, Keith,” he says.

“Goodbye, Shiro.”

Then he’s gone. Allura gives Keith a look that’s part disappointment and part sympathy, and then she’s gone too.

It’s better this way. Everyone is where they’re supposed to be, and this time, he got to say goodbye.

* * *

Three weeks later, Keith walks into his room and Shiro is there. He waves sheepishly.

Keith stares.

“So I failed a psych eval,” Shiro says.

“A... what?” Keith asks slowly.

“I was trying to find the other people you mentioned,” Shiro says, avoiding Keith’s eyes. “I think they noticed something was up, because they called me in for an evaluation. They decided I was too distracted for any missions, for the time being. So I’m not going to Kerberos after all.”

“Oh,” Keith says. “Oh, then...”

“I guess someone else will have to save the universe.” Shiro shoved his hands in his pockets and grinned crookedly. “None of the others were there, anyway. I think it was just me.”

“And now you’re here.” Keith is still kind of processing this. He really thought he’d never see him again.

“Yeah. I thought, if I can’t go out there and see the universe, I could at least come here. Since a lot of the universe is here anyway, apparently.”

A spark of hope is blooming in Keith’s chest. “That the only reason?”

Shiro finally looks at him and grins. “And... I still really like you.”

Keith breathes out. “I still really like you, too.” He pauses. “It’s gonna be a little weird, though. Since everyone thinks you’re dead here.”

Shiro shrugs. “So you found another clone, or I have amnesia or something. Or, hell, I’m from an alternate reality. Would anyone even question it?”

“Probably not.”

“So there we go. I can stay.” Shiro beams.

“Yeah,” Keith says, and drags him down to kiss him breathless, because he can.

“Hey,” he adds when they finally surface. “You wanna meet everyone?”

Shiro’s eyes widen. “Oh, yeah. The ones you fought the war with.”

“Yep. Don’t worry, they’ll love you, too.” Keith takes him by the hand and gives him a tug. “Come on.”

“Okay,” Shiro says breathlessly, and Keith leads him, grinning, into his new life.

**Author's Note:**

> lance, squishing shiros cheeks: hes so... so BABYFACED, keith, you brought back a CHILD  
keith: hes probably the same age as you  
lance: A CHILD
> 
> unrelated to this fic or the ar zine but i am..... pretty done with voltron. so with the exception of another zine piece and maybe a big bang, this is probably the last youll see from me, until i jump ship to another fandom that i like enough to write about, and god knows when/if thatll happen. so........ bye, i guess! <3


End file.
